Rangers stop Devils in their tracks, earn solid 3-1 win over rivals
The New York Rangers took on the New Jersey Devils at Madison Square Garden on Friday night.
After losing two in a row, the team bounced back with a comeback win over the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday. Now they wanted to start a winning streak and were able to do so playing a solid 60 minute game.
Recap: Rangers 3 vs Devils 1
The Hudson River Rivals played a hard and fast-paced first period that was reminiscent of the height of the rivalry in the 90’s. Both sides used their speed to generate some great chances, with Igor Shesterkin making two consecutive stops on Nico Hischier on a breakaway.
Mika Zibanejad gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead by tucking home a rebound past Nico Dawes 11:11 in. Jacob Trouba’s shot from the point was corralled by the center for his 21st goal of the season.
“They’re a fast team and we like to play that way as well,” Zibanejad said. “It’s been a good first period so far.”
However, less than three minutes later, Hischier would get his revenge after splitting the defense of Ryan Lindgren and Adam Fox. His shot rifled over the glove of Shesterkin from in tight to the tie it up.
Late in the first, Barclay Goodrow lived up to the saying “revenge is a dish best served cold” by fighting P.K. Subban. Goodrow finally got some justice for Sammy Blais, who is out for the season with a torn ACL thanks to Subban’s dirty play.
Filip Chytil gets one
The second period was quite different from the first. While there was 28 shots between the two squads in the opening 20, it seems like the brakes were applied by the coaches in the middle stanza.
New Jersey outshot the Rangers 9-5 to even the shots at 21 apiece after two, but it was a goal by Filip Chytil that would give New York a 2-1 lead heading into the third period.
“I picked it up in the neutral zone and tried to go wide on the D,” Lindgren said. “I heard Fil (Chytil) call for it in the middle and dropped it back. Great shot by him.”
Chris Kreider nails it down
The Rangers entered the third with a record of 18-1-3 when leading after two periods. When this 20 minutes was up they would add win 19.
New York controlled play for the most part keeping the majority of the Devils chances to the outside. Any breakdown was met by the spectacular goaltending of Shesterkin, who finished with 32 saves.
Chris Kreider tallied his 36th goal of the season off a beautiful feed from Zibanejad. Fox’s pass from inside the d-zone to hit Mika up ice was just as impressive. That was the defenseman’s 47th assist on the year.
“He’s an unbelievable player,” Kreider said of his center. “The way he thinks the game, the amount of athleticism and the compete that he has… we’re just lucky to have him.”
The Blueshirts now have consecutive wins after back-to-back losses. In their last 10 games, they are 7-2-1. New York will travel to Winnipeg to take on the Jets this Sunday night.
Notable Rangers
- Igor Shesterkin stopped 32 of 33 for his 27th win
- Mika Zibanejad was the game’s first star with 1G – 1A
- Chris Kreider’s two points (1G – 1A) ties Anders Hedberg for 17th all-time in NYR points (397)
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